Greatest Engineering Achievements - #18 Lasers and Fiber Optics
|
|
| Audience/Grade: | High School Junior -Continuing Education 11-Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
Electrical Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation History of Science and Technology Materials Engineering Technology and Society |
| Special Topic(s): | |
| Learning Resource Type: |
Reference - Article/Document |
| Media Type: |
Unknown |
| Author(s): |
Organization:National Academy of Engineering - NAE |
| Description: | Part of the National Academy of Engineering's site of the top 20 greatest engineering achievements of the Twentieth Century. Lasers and Fiber Opticsare listed as #18 in impact. The site has a timeline and an essay by Charles H. Townes, as well as resources on lasers, optical fiber and the Gossamer Web. " If necessity is the mother of invention, the odds of a breakthrough in telecommunications were rising fast as the 20th century passed its midpoint. Most long-distance message traffic was then carried by electrons traveling along copper or coaxial cables, but the flow was pinched and expensive, with demand greatly outstripping supply. Over the next few decades, however, the bottlenecks in long-haul communications would be cleared away by a radically new technology." |
| Rating: |
|
| Related Resources | |
| Keywords: | Charles H. Townes Charles Townes lasers optical fiber fiber optics Gossamer Web. |
| Is Component of: |
Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century |
| Usage Tip | |
| Related ABET Criteria: |
(c) Design a system, component, or process |
| Use of Resource: |
Great site to show the engineering behind everyday products and systems. |
| Difficulty: |
Easy |
| Interactivity Level: |
Low |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | December 2009 |
| Platform/Format: |
WWW |
| Cost: |
Free |
| Download URL: | http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=2966 |
| Metadata: |
IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
NEEDS
|
